Captain America | Low Poly University Assignment

Dilkesy

Hello there,

So this is 1 of 4 of my modules for this semester of university.

Cyborg Link Character - http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1931929#post1931929
*Links to other threads of the other 2 modules will soon be here*

Basically this module is HandHeld Games where we have to create either a: Character, Vehicle or Environment but aimed to be used on the IOS.

I chose the Character mainly because i feel this is my strongest area and I really wanted to try it out.

The requirements for the character:

1. Based on a Graphic novel.
2. Triangle Count of 3000
3. Characters should be designed for a 3rd person RPG Game
4. Any Z-Brush sculpt should be kept to a minimum of 1 million pixols anything above that is overkill.
5. Textures resolution up to 1024 for 1* Diffuse, 1* Normal, 1* Specular, 1* Opacity and 1* Emissive. Any shader setup should work within the UDK Mobile PC Viewer.

So basically i chose to do Captain America and got some basic concept images just to show what kind of art style I will be attempting to create.







There is also this art style which might be quite interesting to do.





That's all for now but next step is just going to be messing around in 3ds Max 2014 and getting a basic base mesh and see how much 3k triangles really is.

Dilkesy

Dilkesy

Gave myself a bit of practice and decided to make the shield, unwrap, texture and try out crazy bump and see how to use it.

Dilkesy

dustinbrown wrote: »

Read up on how to create proper material definition. Currently I cannot tell what your shield is supposed to be made of. If I had to guess, I'd say it's made of wood since it has a dull finish, there are so many horizontal lines running across it, and it looks so damaged. Captain American's shield is supposed to be made of an adamantium steel-vibranium alloy, so it's metal and practically indestructible.

Something else you should bear in mind is the scale of any damage or other detail you add. Make certain it make sense for the scale of the asset you're creating and make sure it makes sense for the specific environment and conditions it would be exposed to. All of this stuff contributes to believably for the viewer.

Okay thanks for the feedback. I see where you're coming from and will improve the texture side of the shield before final submission

BradMyers82

Here is a really good captain America someone already made...

http://www.gameartisans.org/challenges/finals_comicon-challenge-2008_3d-char_2776_captain-america_5157_DiegoMaia.php

MainManiac

BradMyers82 wrote: »

Here is a really good captain America someone already made...

http://www.gameartisans.org/challenges/finals_comicon-challenge-2008_3d-char_2776_captain-america_5157_DiegoMaia.php

thighs look too small, ruins entire thing

Dilkesy

BradMyers82 wrote: »

Here is a really good captain America someone already made...

http://www.gameartisans.org/challenges/finals_comicon-challenge-2008_3d-char_2776_captain-america_5157_DiegoMaia.php

Thanks for the reference, i'll be sure to add it to my folder

Dilkesy

frell wrote: »

thighs look too small, ruins entire thing

I'll be sure to take this into consideration on my model

HomeGrownHeroz

I found this tutorial a while ago that I used when I wanted to make the shield. It's a Photoshop tutorial but the workflow method can be applied to creating your texture base for the shield itself.

http://abduzeedo.com/captain-america-shield-photoshop

Torch

frell wrote: »

thighs look too small, ruins entire thing

Maybe he was on atkins at the time?

Dilkesy

HomeGrownHeroz wrote: »

I found this tutorial a while ago that I used when I wanted to make the shield. It's a Photoshop tutorial but the workflow method can be applied to creating your texture base for the shield itself.

http://abduzeedo.com/captain-america-shield-photoshop

Thankyou very much for this, this will help so much

Torch wrote: »

Maybe he was on atkins at the time?

Perhaps he was going for captain america after the serum started to wear off

SoulWind

As mentioned above, the shield itself is pretty much indestructible so it makes little sense for it have any real damage to the structure.

With that said, only the metal is indestructible, the paint on top of it is not. So if you want to add wear and tear you should look at paint scratches on cars, tanks, metallic weaponry etc.

Only the blue and red portions of the shield are painted, so the other parts should be relatively damage free, but that doesn't mean you can't have residue from other objects that have collided with it.

Finally, its a shiny material so consider a specular map if that's permitted.

Dilkesy

SoulWind wrote: »

As mentioned above, the shield itself is pretty much indestructible so it makes little sense for it have any real damage to the structure.

With that said, only the metal is indestructible, the paint on top of it is not. So if you want to add wear and tear you should look at paint scratches on cars, tanks, metallic weaponry etc.

Only the blue and red portions of the shield are painted, so the other parts should be relatively damage free, but that doesn't mean you can't have residue from other objects that have collided with it.

Finally, its a shiny material so consider a specular map if that's permitted.

Thanks for the feedback Right now the shield is on pause as I look to progress the character but thanks for the texture advice. And yes specular maps are allowed and i plan to use some of the effects from the photoshop tutorial to help with the specular

David-J

I suggest getting the shield working properly first. Tackle simple things first and get them right before you move on to something more complicated like a full character.

Dilkesy

David-J wrote: »

I suggest getting the shield working properly first. Tackle simple things first and get them right before you move on to something more complicated like a full character.

The issue is I have certain deadlines to meet such as next week having the base mesh done etc

Dilkesy

Okay so here is some very early stages in my modelling. Feel free to critique but I must specify, this is really early stages, pre-alpha

Mossbros

Dilkesy wrote: »

Okay so here is some very early stages in my modelling. Feel free to critique but I must specify, this is really early stages, pre-alpha

I'm going to be real here, you really shouldn't be anywhere near the target polycount for your basemesh, because it's a basemesh it's a starting point for you to sculpt upon and then use the final sculpt (millions of polygons) and project that down upon a retopologised mesh.

I suggest you look into the game art asset pipeline, there's a lot you have to do before just putting colours on your 3k boxy character.

Dilkesy

Mossbros wrote: »

I'm going to be real here, you really shouldn't be anywhere near the target polycount for your basemesh, because it's a basemesh it's a starting point for you to sculpt upon and then use the final sculpt (millions of polygons) and project that down upon a retopologised mesh.

I suggest you look into the game art asset pipeline, there's a lot you have to do before just putting colours on your 3k boxy character.

Thanks for the feedback, this is my first time doing a low poly character with quite low restrictions so i was unsure how detailed i should be going for the base mesh. I do understand the pipeline don't worry I wasn't going to submit a piece with 3ds max materials I did it more for visual effect and to help with reference, like around the waist to know where the colour will stop and the belt will begin.

I suppose my base mesh is so detailed due to me wanting to get the proportions just right before going into sculpting.

I've got a lecture on this today so i'd definitely ask them before carrying on any further.

Thankyou

Dilkesy

Another day of progress any feedback greatly accepted. I think the arms are abit short but not sure.

Things to do still:

Head
Boots

kmactastic

Go ahead and stick some image planes of male anatomy in your scene.Line your mesh up with it, and this will help you see where your base mesh is off. You are right your arms are short. I think some reference will really help you. Feet are tough, but make sure to spend time on them. If you are having trouble adjusting things you may have gone too high poly. Don't be afraid to take away. You can always make a copy of your mesh off to the side. Good luck!

Dilkesy

kmactastic wrote: »

Go ahead and stick some image planes of male anatomy in your scene.Line your mesh up with it, and this will help you see where your base mesh is off. You are right your arms are short. I think some reference will really help you. Feet are tough, but make sure to spend time on them. If you are having trouble adjusting things you may have gone too high poly. Don't be afraid to take away. You can always make a copy of your mesh off to the side. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback, i actually already have an image plane in the background i just hid it in the rendering. I have got a lot of reference images but unfortunately none that are front and side view besides a couple and they are not T-poses. Just trial and error i suppose and of course asking for feedback on here. And I have an iteration of my mesh saved before i turbo smoothed so if all else fails i can simply merge that in and take the boots from there.

Dilkesy

Didn't like the bad quality on the render on the first image so re-rendered with some better quality.

Mossbros

Dilkesy wrote: »

Didn't like the bad quality on the render on the first image so re-rendered with some better quality.

don't worry too much about spending time with colors and rendering to show how far you've come, at the moment the mesh is looking more on par with a base mesh but the head needs a neck.

Once you've finished with your base mesh I suggest maybe sculpting more towards anatomical refrence

Dilkesy

Mossbros wrote: »

don't worry too much about spending time with colors and rendering to show how far you've come, at the moment the mesh is looking more on par with a base mesh but the head needs a neck.

Once you've finished with your base mesh I suggest maybe sculpting more towards anatomical refrence

Thanks for the feedback. On the base mesh i do still need to work on the head and the boots but right now I have another deadline for friday and got to catch up on another module.

In terms of anatomical reference I have a lot of other captain america sculpts as reference but is there anything else you would recommend?

Mossbros

Dilkesy wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. On the base mesh i do still need to work on the head and the boots but right now I have another deadline for friday and got to catch up on another module.

In terms of anatomical reference I have a lot of other captain america sculpts as reference but is there anything else you would recommend?

The best bet is not to look at conceptual reference for something you want to achieve a realistic look on, lookup bodybuilders and muscle's as well as human proportion.

As you are currently working only low poly your best bet is to try and make sure everything works perfectly within proportion, at the moment your character looks a bit stubby and needs some longer legs.

Dilkesy

Mossbros wrote: »

The best bet is not to look at conceptual reference for something you want to achieve a realistic look on, lookup bodybuilders and muscle's as well as human proportion.

As you are currently working only low poly your best bet is to try and make sure everything works perfectly within proportion, at the moment your character looks a bit stubby and needs some longer legs.

Thanks for the feedback once again, in terms of making the character look realistic one of the rules of the assignment is to base it on the graphic novels so in terms of anatomy everything is very exaggerated as it is after captain america, the super soldier. But thanks for the feedback on proportions i'll look at extended the legs abit more

Mossbros

Dilkesy wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback once again, in terms of making the character look realistic one of the rules of the assignment is to base it on the graphic novels so in terms of anatomy everything is very exaggerated as it is after captain america, the super soldier. But thanks for the feedback on proportions i'll look at extended the legs abit more

It never hurts to look at real life anatomy, even if the novels exaggerate it by a great deal. Knowing exactly how muscles work and not just looking at shape will help in both exaggeration and the opposite.

Like the thigh's are made from multiple muscles that cross eachother, but the exaggerated is more to what comics base the muscles upon. Like these legs.

Dilkesy

Mossbros wrote: »

It never hurts to look at real life anatomy, even if the novels exaggerate it by a great deal. Knowing exactly how muscles work and not just looking at shape will help in both exaggeration and the opposite.

Like the thigh's are made from multiple muscles that cross eachother, but the exaggerated is more to what comics base the muscles upon. Like these legs.

Thanks, i'll be sure to have these open during the sculpting phases of my work